House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to unveil a long-awaited health reform bill in the House on Thursday that includes a less liberal version of the public health insurance option – a disappointment to progressives who just last week hoped their version of the plan would be in the legislation.


Pelosi will include a public option in which doctors can negotiate their rates with the government, despite her obvious preference for a plan pegged to Medicare.


Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller confirmed the decision after leaving a Wednesday evening session to discuss the bill with second-term Democrats.


Pelosi last week thought she could get the votes for the more liberal plan – one tethered to Medicare — but concluded that she could not muster the 218 votes, amid resistance from fiscal conservatives in the House who said it would bust the budget.


That’s dramatically different than the plan Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hopes to include in the Senate bill – a public option with a chance for states to “opt-out.â€